They had originally been due to fly in to an airbase used by the Hercules which was involved in a crash in Sweden last week, killing five Norwegian Air Force officers. But the location was changed as a mark of respect.

Charles wrote privately written to King Harald to convey his sympathies over the tragedy and asked for his condolences to be passed on to the families of the victims.

Their eight-day tour of the region will also see the royal couple visit Norway's second-largest city, Bergen, before they travel on to Stockholm in Sweden, and then Copenhagen and Jutland in Denmark.